Heb 4:14-15: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to the confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin.” [HCSB]
I had two great aunts who loved the Lord, Augusta, and Julie. I met them for the first time when we moved to California from Pennsylvania. Augusta came straight at our Catholicism with guns blazing. Needless to say, even as a young girl I thought her idea of God wasn’t what I wanted.
Julie on the other hand, was full of smiles and wit and overflowing with grace. She spoke of a Savior who was loving and kind, One who understood how tough life could be, One who loved me personally and wanted me to love Him personally. One, she said, I already knew from a distance, Jesus Christ.
That was a new revelation to me. It took a number of years and other sets of experiences and circumstances before I embraced my Aunt Julie’s Jesus in my early 20’s. But I trace those seeds planted back to her.
We have a Savior who understands how difficult temptation is because He too suffered it. Unlike us, however, He never succumbed to it. Now this sympathetic, empathetic Savior sits at the Right Hand of God and makes intercession for us. His Spirit gives us strength to overcome. And if we should fail, His blood covers us, and He reminds the Father that He has already born our punishment.
I truly love my Great Aunt Julie’s Jesus. And I am so grateful to my Great Aunt Julie, who has long since gone to be with her Jesus. She supplied what I was missing growing up … the truth that God loves us so much, so much¸ He provided a way to know Him personally, the way to be drawn to Him through His Son.
